Live: Conservative election fraud investigation announcement has been made

Police officers standing next to a Conservative party 'battle bus' in Norton Sub Hamdon, near Yeovil, during campaigning for the 2015 general election. (Image: Getty)

Somerset Live is reporting live on the announcement made by the Crown Prosecution Service into whether as many as 30 people will be charged following an investigation into election expenses that were declared as national rather than local spending two years ago.

The investigation has looked at spending on the Conservative Battle Bus, which visited the marginal constituencies of Wells and Yeovil in the run up to the 2015 election.

UPDATE: We have received the full statement from the CPS.

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James Heappey, who is now seeking re-election in Wells and Marcus Fysh, who is hoping to hold his seat in Yeovil, have both denied wrongdoing and previously said they are confident they have not broken any laws or rules in the expenditures.

Key Events

Electoral Commission has issued this statement in response to the CPS decision

The Electoral Commissionhas issued this statement in response to the CPS decision. A spokesman said:

The evaluation set out by the CPS in today’s announcement is consistent with that of the commission, which concluded that the Conservative party’s spending return was incomplete and inaccurate, as it contained spending that should have been included in the candidates’ returns.

The rules set by parliament to regulate political party finance are clear and well-established, they exist to ensure transparency in the system and to underpin public confidence in our democratic processes.

Parties and candidates need to ensure they fully comply with these responsibilities under the law. The Commission will continue to provide guidance and advice to parties and others to ensure they are clear on the rules, including during the current campaigning period leading up to the UK parliamentary general election.

12:12

Twitter reacts to CPS decision

There’s been a flurry of action on Twitter in response the announcement from the CPS.

Here’s some of the reaction:

11:48

Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative party chairman on CPS decision

Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative party chairman, has put out this statement in response to the CPS decision. He said:

After a very thorough investigation, we are pleased that the legal authorities have confirmed what we believed was the case all along: that these Conservative candidates did nothing wrong. These were politically motivated and unfounded complaints that have wasted police time. We are glad that this matter is finally resolved.

A number of false and malicious claims continue to be spread on the internet. People should be aware that making false claims about a candidate’s personal character and conduct is an electoral offence, as well as being defamatory.

Notwithstanding these false claims, Conservatives want to strengthen election rules to safeguard electoral integrity – in light of the real and proven cases of electoral fraud exposed in Tower Hamlets in 2015.

11:41

Yeovil Conservative candidate Marcus Fysh on expenses investigation

A Conservative candidate investigated for his election expenses has said he has always known he would be cleared.

Marcus Fysh said:

We knew all along I had done nothing wrong, so I welcome this news.

I hope now the attempted smears by my opposition will stop. It is sad that they have nothing else to offer.

Theresa May’s strong and competent leadership in the national interest, continued progress on our promises in South Somerset, and keeping local people’s aspirations at the heart of Government should now be the focus.

The only way to achieve these things in the Yeovil constituency is to vote for me.

Mr Fysh will be opposed by Liberal Democrat candidate Jo Roundell Greene in Yeovil in June.

11:35

Jeremy Corbyn reacts to CPS election expenses decision

On the question of the CPS... I am interested and surprised by it, but we would have to look at the details of it. Quite clearly the Electoral Commission is independent, the Crown Prosecution is independent, the Director of Public Prosecutions is independent, they have to make a judgement on it.

But our electoral laws must be enforced and must be adhered to, there are strict spending limits for a reason - so that money can’t buy power, only votes in the ballot box should should be able to get power.

11:13

Former MP and electoral candidate James Heappey releases statement

Wells Constituency candidate James Heappey

I am pleased the matter is now resolved after a year long investigation by Avon and Somerset Police. Being under investigation has not been pleasant for me, my family and my team but it is right that the allegations have been fully examined and that the police and CPS have decided there is no case to answer.

I have always said that we did nothing wrong and, most importantly, that had we been required to declare a proportion of the battle bus costs locally, we would have been able to do so comfortably having underspent in the election by over £1500.

I know that my constituents will be as pleased as I am that this matter is now resolved. I look forward to the remainder of the election campaign and hopefully serving on as the Member of Parliament for the Wells Constituency for the next five years.

10:59KEY EVENT

Announcement made on charges

Nick Vamos, CPS Head of Special Crime, said:

We have considered files of evidence from 14 police forces in respect of allegations relating to Conservative Party candidates’ expenditure during the 2015 General Election campaign.

We considered whether candidates and election agents working in constituencies that were visited by the Party’s ‘Battle Bus’ may have committed a criminal offence by not declaring related expenditure on their local returns. Instead, as the Electoral Commission found in its report, these costs were recorded as national expenditure by the Party.

We reviewed the files in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and have concluded the tests in the Code are not met and no criminal charges have been authorised.

Under the Representation of the People Act, every candidate and agent must sign a declaration on the expenses return that to the best of their knowledge and belief it is a complete and correct return as required by law. It is an offence to knowingly make a false declaration. In order to bring a charge, it must be proved that a suspect knew the return was inaccurate and acted dishonestly in signing the declaration. Although there is evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate, there is insufficient evidence to prove to the criminal standard that any candidate or agent was dishonest

The Act also makes it a technical offence for an election agent to fail to deliver a true return. By omitting any ‘Battle Bus’ costs, the returns may have been inaccurate. However, it is clear agents were told by Conservative Party headquarters that the costs were part of the national campaign and it would not be possible to prove any agent acted knowingly or dishonestly. Therefore we have concluded it is not in the public interest to charge anyone referred to us with this offence.

Our evaluation of the evidence is consistent with that of the Electoral Commission. While the role of the Commission is to regulate political finances and campaign spending, the role of the CPS is to consider whether any individual should face criminal charges, which is a different matter with different consideration and tests.

One file, from Kent Police, was only recently received by the CPS, and remains under consideration. No inference as to whether any criminal charge may or may not be authorised in relation to this file should be drawn from this fact and we will announce our decision as soon as possible once we have considered the evidence in this matter.

10:51

Announcement due at 11am

Up to 30 Tory MPs are set to learn if they will be charged with electoral fraud at 11am today.

Prosecutors are due to make an announcement on files they have received from 15 police forces before Thursday’s deadline for candidates to declare whether they will stand in the upcoming election.